Flood Due to Arrive in Ladprao Thursday pm, about Teatime

The latest news I heard (and the internet is – coincidentally or not – off and on) is that the waters have reached the Jae Leng department store, which is this side of Don Mueang on the Viphawadi-Rangsit road. Don Mueang itself has stopped all flights and, a little further out, the Thammasat and AIT sites have been evacuated and those who had been sheltering there moved on, possibly to Ramkhamhaeng Stadium (that was yesterday’s news and may have changed).

Depending on how quickly the water travels, therefore, it could be pushing up to Central Ladprao and the mouth of Ladprao Road tomorrow – unless it comes up through the drains first, in which case it will just appear and everyone will leg it as swiftly as possible, I imagine.

Predictions have been quite accurate so far, as far as I can tell – many people have been criticising the government but I am not sure what more they could reasonably have done under the circumstances. The reason for the excessive floods this year is presumably (linked to the) excessive rainfall earlier this year. Andrew Walker at the New Mandala website has been presenting figures showing that rainfall at several areas to the north has been signficantly above normal. Irrespective of who has done what since then, it appears that there is just too much water.

The government has announced a public holiday for Thursday and, presumably, Friday as well, which indicates that this is likely to be serious for this area. I plan to go to work tomorrow but be ready to skip off home if it looks like getting wet in a hurry. Alas, our campus internet system is linked to the Pathum Thani campus system (or somesuch technical thing) and has not been working at all. So, instead of watching the skies, I will be watching the mean streets.